February 18, 2007

Paisley Says DUP Will Back His Decision

IT 02/19/07 Paisley Says DUP Will Back His DecisionsIT 02/19/07 Political Hardmen Likely To Top PollMD 02/18/07 Hillary’s DetractorsIN 02/17/07 Opin: Paisley Will Win But A Pyrrhic VictoryIT 02/19/07 Taoiseach Dismisses Nuclear Power SolutionCL 02/19/07 Grand Marshals Ready To Lead St. Pat’s Parade

Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley has saidsupporters are "happy to be guided" by the party'sleadership in the run-up to next month's Assembly election.

He said supporters told him they trusted the party. "Theyhave said: 'We trust you and we know that if you dosomething we don't understand we are not going to condemnyou, we are going to back you'."

Dr Paisley told RT Radio 1's This Week that there was a"craving for peace" but that people wanted a lastingsettlement.

"Those who want to see peace also want a peace that willlast, not a stop-go/go-stop situation. There will beobstacles and difficulties but we are going to see this onethrough."

Dr Paisley said the need for lasting peace was the reasonwhy he took what he described as a "strong line" on "SinnF‚in/IRA".

"We must say to the IRA/Sinn F‚in, 'Look, we must bepersuaded absolutely and we must see tokens encouraging usto believe that you as a party have ceased and are notgoing to return to any paramilitarism'."

Dr Paisley also claimed Sinn F‚in's endorsement of policinghad fallen short and referred to a remark by Sinn F‚inpresident Gerry Adams that the party would "put manners" onthe PSNI.

"There are too many ifs and buts and teaching peoplemanners and all that sort of thing and I don't think thatis helpful."

He suggested Sinn F‚in did not deserve any credit forencouraging people to assist police investigating themurder of Newry man Stiofan Loughran, who was stabbed inDerrybeg in the city on February 8th.

"It was one of their own, wasn't it [ he]", Dr Paisleysaid.

To protests from RT correspondent Tommie Gorman at theremark, he said: "It may not be likeable but I have to behonest with these things because the future of the countrylies in the right decision to be taken at this moment."

The DUP is believed to think that not committing to power-sharing will give it greater bargaining power over aneventual devolution financial deal.

He called for a united front from the parties on any peacedividend. "The chancellor [ of the exchequer Gordon Brown]is not going to do a deal for one party but he may do adeal for all of us and I think that's the differencebetween the DUP's approach and ours," he said.

"We both share the same objective, if the objective is toget a deal to go into government. But we dare not risklosing that all-party consensus which is the key strength."

The party's Assembly candidate for South Antrim DavidBurnside has said the union of the United Kingdom is underthreat from inside and outside Northern Ireland.

He spoke as the Scottish Nationalist Party launched acampaign to become the largest party at Holyrood, theScottish parliament.

"An Assembly at Stormont which brings government closer tothe people and halts the blackmailing tactics of Peter Hainand the Northern Ireland Office is a worthy aim for theUlster Unionist Party," he said.

"A legislative Stormont which is inherently unstable andundemocratic, however, might be used by English MPs as anexcuse to weaken the union and could be a dangerous Trojanhorse for unionism."

Mr Burnside said that if the SNP became the largest partyin Scotland, it could trigger a referendum calling for anend to the union, with Scotland withdrawing. "If thatsequence of events unfolds, many English MPs will movefurther away from supporting the union," he warned.

The UUP candidate also criticised the DUP, which he saidhad failed to negotiate a better deal at the talks in StAndrews last year. He said the DUP had left the politicalinstitutions at Stormont undemocratic and unstable.

Constituency profile: North Belfast:North Belfast is hometo two of the North's best-known political hardmen - localMP, DUP stalwart and barrister Nigel Dodds and Sinn F‚inpolicing spokesman and former Maze escapee, Gerry Kelly.

It is the constituency which had the highest number ofdeaths during the Troubles and which today boasts thegreatest number of so-called peace walls - a mish-mash ofloyalists, republicans, severe deprivation, relativeaffluence and a smattering of conspicuous wealth.

Across the political divide, proximity has bought littlesense of affinity with near- constant sectarian tensions.

Dodds's office, close to town, nestles between modestVictorian villas, some primly neat, others dilapidated, afew abandoned. Demographically the unionist areas are indecline with a growing elderly population, while theCatholic areas complain of overcrowding.

Dodds admits his constituents are more concerned withbread- and-butter issues than the potential jam that mightsome day bind his party and Sinn F‚in in a power-sharingexecutive.

In common with every other politician in the area, proposednew water charges are the biggest complaint he hears on thedoorstep. "If the Assembly is back, that's the issue we'llhave to deal with as our number one priority."

A recent report showed that literacy levels among schoolleavers, particularly in loyalist areas in thisconstituency, were appallingly low.

"There's a whole generation of young people coming out, oneafter another, and you worry what's going to happen in 20,30 years time," he says.

Is that not reason enough to get back into government andtake action on the issue?

"Absolutely, that's key," agrees Dodds. "What we've got toensure is that if we get devolution we don't end up inanother six months with it all crashing down. If we can getit right so devolution returns, so it's stable, durable, itlasts - that will be a tremendous achievement."

Fred Cobain, the sole Ulster Unionist in the constituency,is something of a maverick, representing a working-classunionist area outside the comfortable commuter belttraditionally seen as the party's heartland.

Cobain's office lies a short distance past republicanArdoyne and loyalist Glenbryn, scene of the Holy Crossprotest in 2001.

An old man stands in the reception area and complains thatBelfast council is trying to charge an elderly femaleneighbour œ40 for a new wheelie bin.

"She hasn't got that kind of money and I already get herpapers for her in the morning, I'm not taking the rubbishout too," he explains to the receptionist, several timesover.

With calm grace, she deals with him and answers two phonecalls. "This is nothing," she says. "The other day I had 13people queuing out the door. Three of them were easternEuropean and could hardly speak English."

Cobain works hard for his constituents. For all the high-profile TV appearances, nobody gets elected in NorthBelfast unless they can talk wheelie bins.

A short distance away through the leafy upper Antrim Road,a traditional middle-class Catholic stronghold, sittingSDLP assembly member Alban Maginness is in ebullient form.His is a safe seat but he is confident he can strip anotherfrom Sinn F‚in.

His running mate Pat Convery, Belfast councillor and deputylord mayor, is a genial man who agrees with Maginness thatSDLP voters are re-engaged, re-enthused and eager to maketheir mark in this election.

The prospect of water charges and the lack of politicalprogress will mean they turn out in droves.

Away from the tree-lined, middle-class crescents, in thetiny terraced streets of nationalist enclaves, Sinn F‚in'srecent endorsement of policing has certainly not been metwith universal approval.

Gerry Kelly's running mate, Caral N¡ Chuil¡n, is a soft-spoken, youthful-looking grandmother and the only womanrunning in the constituency.

Both nationalist parties agree that housing is a priorityon the nationalist side. Between 75-84 per cent of peopleon waiting lists for housing in North Belfast are Catholicnationalists, says N¡ Chuil¡n. "They're saying this is whatit was like for us in the early 60s, late 70s," she says.

She is hoping that her first experience of Stormont will beas part of a working Assembly.

"Even among the big political issues, the orange and thegreen, there's all the other stuff people are hoping to getat," she says. "I'm busting to get at the other stuff."

NATIONALIST BATTLEGROUND:Sinn F‚in's Caral N¡ Chuil¡ndismisses the SDLP's chances of taking a seat fromrepublicans as overconfidence. A Belfast city councillorfor three years, this is N¡ Chuil¡n's first time to standin the Assembly elections.

The previous incumbent, Sinn F‚in's Kathy Stanton, steppeddown and rumours abound she refused to endorse the party'spolicy on policing. In areas like Ardoyne, the policingpolicy is particularly unpopular and some Sinn F‚in votersare likely to stay away from the polls. It is nigh onimpossible to imagine that the SDLP will pick up manydisaffected Sinn F‚in votes. Instead, it is hoping that asoftening of Sinn F‚in's poll coupled with a good turnoutby SDLP voters will be enough to take the extra seat.However, Sinn F‚in's policing issue is likely to play wellwith traditional SDLP voters, which may reverse the effect.

UNIONIST BATTLEGROUND:Dodds talks of reclaiming the glorydays of pre-1998 when unionists held four of the six NorthBelfast seats but the demographics suggest otherwise.United Kingdom Unionist Party leader Bob McCartney is onthe ballot sheet here, as well as several otherconstituencies, in an attempt to rattle DUP cages. There issure to be a percentage of disgruntled DUP-ers happy toswitch allegiance in an effort to stop any chance of power-sharing. This is an area where "on the ground" work betweenelections pays dividends on poll day, so few rate McCartneyas a serious contender. His inclusion may, however, scupperDUP's chances of taking a seat from Fred Cobain, the soleUUP assemblyman in the constituency. The UUP party machineis watching the seat and admits Cobain has a fight on hishands. A ground war is how the Cobain camp describes it.DUP voters are disciplined about voting down the partyticket, they admit.

WILDCARD:As if! Northern Ireland politics often has adepressing sense of d‚j… vu and nowhere is this moreevident than in North Belfast. Raymond McCord, whosecampaign to expose his son's killers resulted in theground-breaking Police Ombudsman report on collusion, stoodin the 2003 election, but garnered a paltry 340 votes onthe seventh count when he was eliminated. He is standingagain and claims to be getting a good response on thedoorstep from both communities. There is certainly a new-found respect for McCord's bravery and tenacity, butwithout a party machine and being something of a single-issue candidate (victims' rights), few rate his chances. Hemay pick up some preference votes but hardly enough tobring him home on the day.

PREDICTION:No change. There are bound to be some skirmisheson the sidelines between Sinn F‚in/SDLP and DUP/UUP, butthey are unlikely to upset the current balance of power.

Washington, D.C. - While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton'spresidential stock is rising among her congressionalcolleagues in Washington, prominent liberal Democrats inher home base of New York City privately express theopinion that she has unsolved political problems.

These critics note that Clinton's negative national ratingsremain high (around 45 percent). She also generatedsimilarly low ratings for her Senate re-election bid in NewYork last year, but she won in a landslide against tokenRepublican opposition. Clinton's performance in Iowa lastweek received poor reviews from liberals at home, who didnot laugh at her little joke aimed at husband Bill Clintonwhen she was asked about her ability to handle "evil, badmen."

The most likely left-of-center alternative to Clinton, inNew York as elsewhere, appears to be former Sen. JohnEdwards of North Carolina.

McCain, a leading prospect for the 2008 Republicanpresidential nomination, has been increasingly active aboutNorthern Ireland and has had contacts with Paisley. Since2005, McCain has been actively engaged in promoting powersharing.

Paisley has told Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern that hisparty "will have nothing whatsoever to do" with a newspecial committee in the Irish Parliament to deal withissues concerning Northern Ireland.

Lobbyists for Rahm

A new, high-grade Democratic lobbying firm in Washington issponsoring a top-dollar fund-raising breakfast for Rep.Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Feb.13 at the Phoenix Park Hotel on Capitol Hill.

The principal host is David W. Jones, who ran the extensive2006 fund-raising campaign by Rep. Charles Rangel of NewYork. Jones and the other hosts listed on the invitationare all Democrats and former congressional staffers nowassociated with Capitol Counsel, a newly formed lobbyistfirm unveiled after the 2006 election. They are Zahra Buck,Shannon Finley, James C. Gould, Daniel Papadopoulos andJohn D. Raffaelli.

The invitation to the 8:30 a.m. event appears to have beensent to names on the mailings by Rangel last year to getsupport for a Democratic-controlled House that made himWays and Means Committee chairman. Recipients includeRepublican lobbyists who work on legislation at Ways andMeans (which includes Emanuel as a member). The cost ofattending: contributions ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 forFriends of Rahm Emanuel.

Bush on Vets

House Democratic leaders seeking to show that George W.Bush does not care about war veterans discovered that thepresident has not mentioned them in his last four State ofthe Union speeches, since U.S. troops intervened in Iraq.

The last Bush mention of vets in a State of the UnionAddress came in 2002, when he asked Congress "to approve anhistoric increase for veterans' health" - a requestfollowed by applause.

Bush's omissions irritate officials at the VeteranAdministration, who take pride in advancements in veterans'health care in recent years.

Leaving D.C.

Republican hopes that Gil Gutknecht, who was upset for re-election in Minnesota last year after six terms inCongress, would try again were dashed this week when hequietly put his Capitol Hill condo up for sale at $229,000.

"The congressman is leaving it all, even the Select Comfort'The Numbers Bed,'" said the Internet sales ad. It offersgarage parking for an additional $30,000, claims the unit"gets tons of sun" and concludes: "Perfect for aPolitician, Investor or 1st Time Homebuyer!"

Gutknecht, a member of the big Republican class of 1994,won his southern Minnesota district with over 60 percent ofthe vote in 2002 and 2004. He lost by 6 percentage pointsin 2006 to Democrat Tim Walz, a high school teacher makinghis first campaign for public office.

To find out more about Robert D. Novak and read his pastcolumns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page atwww.creators.com.

When that philosophy consists of two words and those twowords are 'No surrender', it is impossible.

Hence the departure of the faithful from the DUP. Theirmaster taught them well and he never tried to teach themany different.

Jack McKee has given Paisley 40 years of faithful service.

When Paisley set up the Ulster Protestant Volunteers toemulate Carson's UVF of 1912, McKee joined.

He sold The Protestant Telegraph.

He was at Burntollet in 1969 when loyalists ambushed thecivil rights march.

McKee was Paisley's election agent and presented him with asword when he stood for Westminster in 1970. He was therein 1973 when Paisley made the infamous speech declaringthat Protestantism in Northern Ireland had been betrayedand "we must now be prepared to use the mailed fist".

He was in the Laharna Hotel in his home town of Larne withPaisley for the first meeting to organise the UlsterWorkers Strike in 1974.

In 1981 McKee was there, brandishing his gun licence with500 other men, when Paisley called him to an Co Antrimmountainside.

He led the largest group on Larne council for Paisley. Hewas among the 100,000 demonstrators who stood outside theCity Hall in Belfast in 1985.

They heard Paisley claim the Anglo-Irish Agreement would be"resisted to the death" and that Margaret Thatcher would"wade knee deep in the blood of loyalists".

When Paisley said the peace process was "the worst crisisin Ulster's history since the setting up of the state",McKee agreed. His master saw the Good Friday Agreement in1998 as a "prelude to genocide" and so McKee was glad theDUP's policy was to "smash it".

In 2003 McKee was dropped as a DUP candidate. He gotelected as an independent but by 2004 he was back inPaisley's fold - "back from the wilderness", he said.

The old guard were always confident that no matter whathappened, they could count on the politics of 'Nosurrender' and Paisley has always given them that comfort.He delivered the weary old battle cry last year at theTwelfth, as usual.

However, the St Andrews Agreement was the end for McKee andhe resigned.

He said last weekend that he would not be voting DUP in theforthcoming elections.

As Jack McConnell, a stalwart old timer like McKee, said atthe weekend: "We [the DUP] are coming out with stuff thatis totally alien to what we have said all along." McConnellhas also resigned.

It is true. Paisley never said anything other than neverand no.

He would never sit down with Sinn Fein. There would be nocompromise.

Now he is refusing to deny that he might, by accepting thepost of first minister, make the hated former IRA leaderMartin McGuinness deputy first minister for NorthernIreland. Totally alien is right.

Of course, Paisley is also driving everyone else mad byrefusing to say for definite that he WILL go intogovernment with Sinn Fein as previously agreed at StAndrews.

He is refusing to contradict those in his party whocontinue to present the phantom of a vicious IRA ready tostrike again the moment a Protestant drops his guard.

He is allowing the hard men who are his best disciples tooffer more and more Jesuitical reasons as to why Sinn Feincannot be allowed to take power.

He is still mumbling, "Here I stand, I can do no other,"even though nobody can really tell where he stands and whois standing by him. Paisley taught his people to beparanoid and now they see signs of betrayal everywhere.

The DUP just doesn't know how to cope with democracy.

It doesn't know how to be peaceful even though the IRA hasgone. Inevitably, there is a nostalgia for the good olddays of militancy against the enemy at the gate. Nosurrender.

The DUP has little to fear from Bob McCartney, whosehistory as a leader is laughable.

The McKees and McConnells, the Ballymena Six and the othersare still fundamentally loyal to the Big Man.

Their loss at the polls will be made up for by unionistvoters who will find the DUP more comfortable for theabsence of those they'd regard as dinosaurs.

Paisley will win but the old men and their young inheritorsare right.

If he goes into government with Sinn Fein, he will, in hisown terms, have surrendered.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has rejected nuclear power as asolution to global warming and has promised a"comprehensive" national climate-change strategy by Easter.

One-third of national electricity consumption is to begenerated from alternative energy by 2020 and new measureswill include mandatory use of bio-fuel mix in transportfuels and other energy efficiencies in the State sector, MrAhern told the Ogra Fianna F il national youth conferencein Galway at the weekend.

However, Ogra Fianna F il chair Barry Andrews TD says he is"not sure that it is realistic" to "rule out" the nuclearenergy option, given the pace of international events. "Itdoesn't mean we have to build nuclear power stations, butit can be bought in for the national grid."

The Government's stance was also challenged at the Ograconference by a keynote speaker, Prof Philip Walton, aretired professor of applied physics at NUI, Galway.

Prof Walton, spokesman for new lobby group BetterEnvironment for Nuclear Energy, said there was a"resurgence of interest" in nuclear power internationally,due to the impact of global warming on climate change.

Ireland's dependence on imported fossil fuels, which werebecoming scarce and more expensive, and the difficultiesassociated with alternative sources like wind energy werecited by Prof Walton as compelling reasons to reconsiderthe State's approach.

The 30 per cent target for renewables by 2020, set byMinister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey in the upcomingWhite Paper on energy, were "very ambitious", he said, and"I hope he's right".

Prof Walton told the conference that it would take 1,000wind generators to provide the energy generated by onenuclear power plant. France derived 78 per cent of itsenergy from nuclear power and Sweden derived 50 per cent,he said.

The world had "12,000 reactor years" of experience, withtwo major accidents at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986 andThree Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979, Prof Walton said.The casualties were "minuscule" compared to otherindustries, he claimed.

The high level of waste from reactors was a problem, henoted, but the US was resolving it by building a centralrepository in Nevada. Asked by one delegate to estimate thenumber of nuclear power plants Ireland would require, ProfWalton said he would replace the ESB coal-burning stationat Moneypoint with a nuclear power plant of 600 megawatts,and several more plants of 300-400 megawatts.

No minister was present during Prof Walton's address, butMr Dempsey joined the workshop later and welcomed OgraFianna F il's decision to discuss the issue. A statutoryban on generating electricity by nuclear means had been inexistence for the best part of 30 years and there was "noproposal before Government or contemplated by Government tochange that", he said.

In his address to the conference, the Taoiseach promised a"green energy revolution" which ensured that Ireland metits obligations in full to tackle climate change. A climatechange strategy was being prepared for Easter by aministerial taskforce.

New measures announced by Mr Ahern include:

Instruction to Dublin Bus and Bus ireann to move all theirexisting fleet to a 5 per cent bio-fuel blend, with atarget 30 per cent bio-fuel blend in all new buses.

A mandatory programme of efficiency measures within thepublic sector, including sole use of energy-efficientlighting in offices, schools and hospitals.

All street lighting and traffic lighting systems to beenergy efficient.

Mandatory use of bio-fuel mix in transport fuels andestablishment of a national bio-fuel distribution network.

Changes in planning law to facilitate installation of newenergy technologies such as domestic wind turbines, solarpanels, bio-mass burners and heat pumps.

As Brooklyn prepares to morph into an emerald empire nextmonth for St. Patrick's Day, a local planning committee gotbusy placing the finishing touches on the jubilant jaunt.

The Irish American Brooklyn Parade Committee held aninstallation dance at St. Patrick's Hall, 4th Avenue and97th Street, to formally induct the grand marshal andaides, who will lead merrymakers along the 32nd annual trekthrough historic Park Slope, March 18.

This year's parade is dedicated to the memories of: EdwardJ. Cush, labor leader and former president and businessmanager of Iron Workers Local 361; the Irish Korean WarVeterans; Ann S. Healion, 1988 parade grand marshal andformer State board president of Ladies Ancient Order ofHibernians; and James P. Moriarty, 1984 parade grandmarshal and Irish business leader.

For more information about the time and location of theparade call 718-499-9482.